Summary Of Janus By Ann Beattie

In the short story “Janus”, by Ann Beattie, the central character is not a real character at all, but in fact is an inanimate object. The cream colored ceramic bowl serves as the main character throughout the story, and is correlated to the Roman God “Janus” that is identified primarily with doors or other places of passage, and is also represented as being two faced. Janus is one of two characters with names, which is also evident of her importance throughout the story. The author uses the character of Andrea to give life to Janus through discussing the bowls importance to her. In many cases the primary character of a story is simply an object that is symbolic of an ideal or underlying meaning through which the author uses to convey their message.
Throughout the story Beattie uses the bowl in many ways to convey different meanings to the reader. In the beginning, its sole purpose in the story is simply a tool that Andrea uses to sell houses. She places the bowl in homes she is trying to sell, along
At the end of the story we are told about the first day Andrea sees the bowl. She is at an arts and crafts fair with her lover when she sees Janus. When she decides she doesn’t really need the bowl she leaves it, but her lover saw something in Andrea sparkle when she saw it, so he buys it for her anyways. Not only is this man her lover, but he is also the man she is having an affair with behind her husband’s back. It is clear that Andrea and this other man are truly in love, and have a passionate romantic relationship, but Andrea cannot bring herself to leave her husband and in turn her lover grows tired of waiting and leaves her. This brings another possibility to the table of Janus’s symbolism, it could possibly be representative of the true love and passion Andrea once had in her life, but let escape. Now she doesn’t want to let it go, it has become